Casey Jones (western adventure, starring Alan Hale, Jr.)

(Syndicated, 1957)
[This series took as its point of departure the life of John
Luther "Casey" Jones, a real-life train engineer hero who saved
a town by crashing the runaway locomotive he was driving, but
lost his life in the process of that heroic deed .
Jones was a native of Tennessee who became an engineer on the
Illinois Midwest and Central Railroad line during the late
1800s. He took his nickname "Casey" from a town near his home
named "Cayce", Kentucky.
At one point in his career he ran the famous "Cannonball
Express" which from Chicago to New Orleans, Louisiana. This
Screen Gems TV series elaborated on the adventures of railroad
man Jones so that it became more of a western than a realistic
railroad series. 26 episodes were produced and syndicated.
The life of Casey Jones was also the subject of a Disney short
subject called "The Brave Engineer" scored by Ken Darby.
Actor Hale went on to his best known role as the "The Skipper"
on the sitcom "Gilligan's Island".]

Theme: "This Ballad of Casey Jones"

[aka: "Casey Jones";
aka: "The Brave Engineer";
This THEME was a folk ballad originally composed by black "engine
wiper" Wallace Saunders of Mississippi, about his friend and co-
worker, the real-life train engineer hero John Luther "Casey"
Jones. After his basic version was sung among friends, it was
taken up by folk singers and vaudevillians who added new verses.
Over 40 variants of the short original song were written over
the years.
The vaudeville team of Eddie Newton and Lawrence Seibert filed
for copyright in 1909 a version they made, and they were
considered the "composers" for legal purposes after that.
Folk Singer Burl Ives performed a version used on the TV series
and it was recorded later.]
Composers: music and lyrics by Wallace Saunders (not affiliated),
adapted by T. Lawrence Seibert (not affiliated), and
Edward "Eddie" Newton (not affiliated)
Original Publisher: Seibert & Newton (1909)
2001 Publisher: Shapiro, Bernstein & Co. (ASCAP),
of New York, NY
Published Copyright Date: 1909
Recordings:
45 single: by Burl Ives